Paint rollers are widely used by professionals and amateurs for applying paint to walls, ceilings, and other surfaces. Typically the roller is used with an applicator having a handle secured in a rotatable fashion thereto. The roller itself generally comprises a paint absorbing and spreading cover affixed to a generally cylindrical core. As is well known in the art, the cores may be made from cardboard, chipboard, phenolic, plastic, thermoplastics such as polypropylene, vinyl or other materials. Similarly, as is well known in the art, the covers may be made from materials such as wool, or woven polyamide or polyester fibers, or other cover materials.
Until recently, almost all paint rollers were made with an internal diameter of about 1.5 inches. The use of a standard 1.5 inch internal diameter of the core permitted the rollers of various manufacturers to be interchangeable on the applicator handles. The portion of the applicator handle to which the roller was affixed is usually known as cage frame.
Recently, the mini-roller has come into common use. The mini-roller has a core with an internal diameter of approximately 0.5 inches. The mini-roller is lighter and more manageable, especially when laden with paint, than the bigger, bulkier 1.5 inch core rollers.
Instead of using a cage frame, the mini-roller is rotatably attached to the applicator handle directly to the main wire of the handle. Most often a plastic fitting insert in the core of the mini-roller is rotatably affixed directly to the wire of the applicator handle, and a slight deformation in the wire handle maintains the lateral positioning of the mini-roller.
Most manufacturers of the mini-rollers have provided a finished end and an end into which the handles are inserted. As will be discussed in more detail below, the finished ends of the mini-rollers are formed with the cover material, by sewing closed one end of a tube of cover material and sliding it about a core. The process of sewing the cover and applying a cover is labor intensive and costly.
The present invention overcomes the costly and labor intensive processes for manufacturing mini-rollers, or for that matter, any paint roller, with a finished end.